News

Asbestos deaths

WEST Somerset Coroner Michael Rose last week said he holds inquests into the deaths of about 15 people a year who came in contact with asbestos in the Bridgwater area decades ago and developed the industrial disease mesothelioma.

Speaking at the inquest for William Akers, of Wellington, on January 26, he said most had come into contact with asbestos years ago at Hinkley Point power station, the Puriton munitions factory and Courtaulds, in Bridgwater.